Vanessa was assaulted as she was doing the “On The Bed” interview on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast.

Harris, 35 years her senior, was ­ visiting the studio for the interview with his wife Alwen.

Vanessa, who is on holiday in Istanbul with her fiancé, singer Ben Ofoedu, 42, said: “I clearly remember being excited about interviewing Rolf because, like millions of others, I had grown up with him,” she recalled.

ORDEAL: Vanessa Feltz relives the attack by Rolf Harris [MARK KEHOE]

“I couldn’t look down but I sensed his hand at the bottom of my dress. He was slowly gathering the fabric up and moving his hand higher up my leg”

Vanessa Feltz

“When I was in make-up some of the girls said I should watch out because it was known in the business he had wandering hands. I said ‘Rolf Harris? You have to be joking’.

“I was in my mid-30s and he was in his mid-60s, old enough to be my dad.

“It all started very well. He joined in a load of activities in the house and at the end was interviewed by me on the famous bed.

“He was affable, genial, responding well to my questions. I was lying on the bed in a floor-length, heavily-beaded evening dress.

“He was sitting very close. As the interview continued, with his wife watching and with the crew all in the room, I suddenly felt a rustling at the hem of my dress.

“I couldn’t look down but I sensed his hand at the bottom of my dress. He was slowly gathering the fabric up and moving his hand higher up my leg.

“He was carrying on talking as though nothing was going on, smiling and joking.

“Suddenly his hand reached my knee and he was still going, travelling at speed. I was shocked.

“This was Rolf Harris. I could clearly see his wife. How could this possibly be happening? He knew ­perfectly well I couldn’t say anything.” Visibly ­upset, Vanessa, 52, recalled how desperate she was to find a way to stop the attack.

“I felt his hand on my thigh. He was inching higher,” she said. “I wasn’t wearing tights or stockings and I sensed nothing was going to stop him.

“After a few seconds he managed to get his hand inside the elastic of my ­knickers. I was absolutely staggered.

“I knew I had to do something but I was in the middle of an interview on live ­television with one of the most famous men in the country.

“What do you do? Stop and tell the viewers ‘Rolf Harris is assaulting me’? I couldn’t do that.”

Vanessa says she was conscious of the show’s young viewers and, more so, that his wife was watching.

“He was getting excited about it, doing what he was doing while on live television. I realised if I didn’t do something dramatic I would be a sitting ­target and his hand would have gained access to the most intimate part of my body.

PRISON: Rolf Harris was found guilty of indecent assault [PA]

“I had no alternative but to cut to an advert break. Presenters don’t choose when to throw to a commercial but I had no choice.

“The second we went to the break I jumped away from him and got his hand out from under my dress. He didn’t react in any way at all. When we came back to the live interview he carried on as if nothing had happened. I was disgusted and furious. I was powerless to protect myself and he knew that.

“I had extricated myself from a ­serious sexual assault but he was still trying to be in control.”

Now Vanessa, who pulls in three ­million listeners on her Radio 2 early morning show, is waiting to hear if ­police will bring a further prosecution. She spoke with officers when Harris, 84, was arrested in 2012 and they have video footage of the incident.

“I am happy to tell a court exactly what ­happened,” she said.

“I thought what ­happened to me was an isolated ­incident. Not for one second did I think he was a serial ­attacker ruining the lives of young girls for his own perverted pleasure.

“Had I thought that I would have gone to the police much sooner.

“What this shows is sexual ­predators are opportunistic.

“If it happens to you it has very probably happened to a host of other women and it is always better to go to the police.”